Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova

Who: Christie, in the first book, she's about 16 or so. She ages 1 year per book. She's an emotional and loving person and a huge manga-fan. She writes the story for a manga that her boyfriend (then Beth) draws. At first she's a little insecure, but she matures into a tougher person as the series continues.

What: In the first book, Christie is experiencing emotions and situations that are foreign to her. She's used to an unstable and painful relationship with an “easily distracted” boyfriend. Then she meets Matt, a college student con veteran with a sarcasm-complex. Christie, who is new and unused to the Manga-con feels an unexplained attraction to this guy she barely knows. He helps her to get used to the con and protects her when things get rough.

This book makes me think about how amazing love can be and how it can strike when you least expect it. Meeting Matt changed Christie's life. It also came with some new friends (1st book, Sandra, Matt's sister, and Greta, their friend. 2nd book, Beth, Christie's new artist and best friend, Raj, and his two friends, Monica and…the other one whose names slip me right now.)

Author Interview Quotes A. BIOGRAPHICAL INFO Svetlana remains modest about her accomplishments, despite being quite prolific in the world of comics: she has drawn for manga art and tutorial books, RPG books, toy designs, animation, book covers, and web comics, besides penning Dramacon and, for a spell, the "Adventures of CG!" comic in CosmoGIRL! magazine. As manga grows in international popularity, it's less of a surprise--and we're glad about that!--that a Russian-born Canadian woman would be kicking so much butt in the traditionally male-dominated world of comics.

B. INTERVIEW

I love how comical Dramacon is, are any aspects or situations real? The book is entirely fictional and none of the characters are based on me or other real people. However, the environment and the spirit of the book are heavily inspired by my own experiences at cons, and by stories I've heard from my friends. In short, I tried to write the book as it may have happened. The fledging writer/artist story in Dramacon is fictional, too--unlike Christie and Bethany, I can both draw and write. (Or can't, depending on who you listen to, hee...) So my path was different, though it shares some of the basic elements (webcomic, peddling my art at cons, meeting awesome pros who took the time to say a few kind words about it). I WOULD LOVE TO ATTEND A CON!! I LOVE MANGA AND ANIME, IT'D BE SO MUCH FUN! I'D BE RIGHT AT HOME *droooollll…*er…*wipe wipe* ANYWAY…

Is there an advantage to writing the main characters thoughts as a narrative form? It definitely makes it seem more realistic. The advantage is exactly that--we get a chance to see the story through Christie's eyes and really be close to what she goes through. It's one of the many things I enjoy so much in manga, the sense of being so involved with the characters, instead of merely observing them. That being said, I probably will stay away from first-person narrative in my next series, Nightschool--I also like having the reader wonder about what's going on in the protagonist's head. First-person narrative fit for Christie's character, since she is so open and wears her heart on her sleeve. Alex is... Quite different. WHO'S ALEX? WELL ANYWAY, I THINK IT'S TRUE. CHRISTIE DOES WEAR HER HEART ON HER SLEEVE. IT'S REALLY CUTE HOW EMOTIONALLY INNOCENT AND DEFENSELESS SHE IS.

What aspects of this project were difficult, if any? All of it, frankly. Haha! Dramacon is my first full-length series and I'd never before written or drawn 160-180 page books. It was a big change from webcomics, to have to plan my story out completely instead of just feeling my way along and making it up as I go. It's a big challenge to stay on task, too. Creators are, by their nature, incurable slackers; getting yourself in gear and tackling the enormous work involved in producing that many pages of art and story is very difficult. YEAH, I CAN SEE HOW THAT'D BE HARD. I PLAN TO BE A MANGA ARTIST TO. IT'S GOOD TO KNOW WHAT I'M UP AGAINST.

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